We cannot discover who we truly are and what we are here for—we cannot become perfectly ourselves—amid the noise and confusion of the world. It is times in silence, stillness, and solitude that allow us to make sense of all that is life.

You cannot avoid problems and suffering, but you can avoid the lessons they have come to teach you. This is wasted suffering. It is like a man who goes to the gym and lifts weights for hours every day but does not know the proper shape and form each exercise should take. He puts in the hours, he suffers, but he is worse off than before he started because he has done damage to himself.

How often we hear people say, “Worrying won’t help” or “Worrying is not going to change anything.” As true as these words are, they don’t empower people to turn around and say, “You’re absolutely right. I won’t worry anymore.”

Contribute or perish—this is one of the fundamental and guiding principles of the universe. We observe it in a thousand ways in nature, and we witness it in the lives of people. The question we must all ask ourselves is this: What will my contribution be?

The surest way to find yourself is to stay just where you are. You don't need to take some exotic trip to a distant land—you are exactly where you are right now for a reason.

The happiest people I know are people who have a sense of mission. They have a joy that nobody can take away from them. The joy of their lives is linked not to the worldly scope or scale of the mission, but to the belief that they are uniquely suited to that role and the conviction that they have been called to it. They have a sense that they are in the right place at the right time doing the right thing. Are you at peace with who you are, where you are, and what you are doing?

One of the most powerful ways for us to simplify our lives is in the area of money and things. What is your relationship with money?

Is there a question that you need to answer? Is there a choice that you need to make? Is there an opportunity that you need to pursue or that you need to turn your back on? Is there a relationship that you need to throw yourself into or walk away from? What is clouding your judgment? Why all the confusion?